Akira rolled onto her back and looked up at the mage. “Gods eyes, did you see that?”
She laughed as she realized how stupid her question sounded. She stood and dusted sand off herself. “Can I do that again?” Akira’s mind was visualizing the usefulness of the orbs in battle. Quickly she thought of her old childhood slingshot. Her eyes blazed with excitement. She blurted out, “These could go farther with a slingshot, could they not?”
Mage Morgan stroked his beard. “Perhaps, if the slingshot is imbued with magic the orb could travel farther and truer.” He handed Akira another orb from the bag tied to his waist.
Akira felt the weight of it. “Do all exploding orbs come this size?”
“No, they can be smaller or larger. The size you hold is comfortable for my hand size,” said the mage. “They are handy weapons to have on hand before a battle. Once you activate the orbs with your energy, they can be stored for a week before they need to be imbued again. They bring additional magic reserves for your disposal when you go into battle. When you activate them, you have an energy drain that you must replenish. You must restrengthen yourself with energy from the earth, wind, and sun to increase your magic before going into battle. I always carry at least three orbs. One already energized.”
“Are you not afraid you will blow your ass off packing these things around?”
Mage Morgan laughed. “They need that last push of energy as they leave your hand to explode. As they travel through the air, they gather more energy and become quite effective destroying threatening things and persons. We can make small orbs, slingshot friendly, if you wish.”
Akira nodded appreciatively. “I was an expert with a slingshot back home. My village friends were great teachers. How soon can we make these magic orbs?”
Mage Morgan in his dry fashioned humor said, “Explosions, and now she is eager!” His voice was directed to no one in particular.
Akira smiled, shrugging her shoulders. “What? ‘Tis better late than never! What is my next lesson?”
“Ahhh, I’m glad you asked that. Now you need to be able to shield yourself from those who would throw an orb or two your way.”
Akira gulped. “I didn’t consider that. Bat crap! What shield can withstand such an attack.?”
“A magic one, Akira, a magic one.”
Hours later, Akira could conjure up a weak shield, able to withstand a few rocks thrown at her. Bruises were great incentive to shield quickly and powerfully. It took a week before she could shield herself from a small orb. She learned that for every magic act performed, every release of energy to perform magic, there was a slow weakening of her magic reserves. Food replenished her body, but the earth, wind, and sun, replenished her energy to perform magic. Meditation assisted her receptive ability to gather energy. She loved to secretly sunbathe in the nude. The more skin she exposed the faster she felt her strength return. Her sun-kissed body glowed with a bronzed tan. She swam in the sea every day, testing her physical endurance, keeping her muscles toned and flexible.
When not working on her combat skills, she and Mage Morgan worked on magical weapons. Not only had she made a slingshot with the help of her father, but she practiced daily with the wondrously small and versatile slingshot, shooting hundreds of small round pebbles gathered after her swims. Mage Morgan had provided a stretchy material, that when stretched back between the forks of a carved deer antler, snapped forward with immense force. As her accuracy sharpened, their fish and fruit diet was supplemented with sea ducks that ventured too near the shoreline, and rabbit found farther inland.
Akira declined to kill bigger game, for the meat would have wasted in the heat. Since Sky Stalker was more than capable of hunting bigger game to feed himself and his mate. Akira, more than ever attuned to the earth’s providence, gave humble thanks for each animal life she took. At each kill she wondered how she would feel taking the life of a human. It weighed heavily on her mind. She had recently seen a comrade die, and as much as she trained to kill, and trained to defend herself, she hadn’t prepared herself for the loss of comrades. Her simplistic, naïve childhood dream of conquering evil enemies was not as vivid and so full of details that reality provided. Reality had already etched in her heart and mind the sounds around death, the color of death, the smell of death and it was only one death that made such an impact. She remembered the weeping, the smoke of the funeral pyre, blood. Time dulled the painful loss but not the lesson.
CHAPTER SIX
Akira sat on the beach watching the sunset. The horizon’s glow was beautiful. The rosy glow should have been soothing, especially after a productive day practicing spells and memorizing chants, but Akira’s thoughts were troubled. I train to kill, but when I imagine how it will feel I want to puke. I’m afraid to use anger to make it an easier task. Anger is like a powerful master. It, makes me act without thinking. If I don’t control it, it may be the death of me. Anger served me well in the past, prodding me to take my destiny into my own hands. It gave me the strength to stand up to Rolfe. Akira bowed her head and leaned her head on her bent knees. She wondered where the brute, Rolfe, was. She wondered if her three half brothers followed him. She regretted thinking about her stepfather, it was like tasting a bitter medicinal. Reports came by pigeon that he still was trying to hunt her down. She pushed thoughts of him away.
She looked towards the heavens and wondered about the ancients who came from the skies. So many humans worshipped the ancients as gods, but the ancients were not gods. How could they be gods? For a more powerful being commanded them home, forbade them to bring their earth families with them when they returned to their home beyond the stars. What manner of god controlled those powerful beings? Were the ancients, angels, the angels my stepfather’s religious men speak of?
She thought about the god her mother’s people prayed to. He was not the same god as the god of her stepfather. Perhaps Mother’s god, too, was an angel or a star traveler enjoying the status of a god, before he too returned to the stars. How can so many beliefs, claim to be the right one? Would it not be a great joke on our world if we all pray to the same god but know him by different names? Akira almost laughed. For it would be a great joke on the stiff black-robed priests back in her village.
She sighed. Why do my stepfather’s holy men think magic is evil? They do evil things to people who refuse to accept their beliefs. They are evil. Something is wrong with men who kill others for being different. My destiny is to be a warrior-mage for the Order of the White Rose. An honorable warrior that protects against those who would kill others for being different, believing in different gods, can kill attackers and take no pleasure in it. To take pleasure in killing is evil. I feel sick when thinking about sticking a sword into a man’s belly. Does this make me weak? Akira argued with her thoughts. I think it will be a good thing if I puke after taking a life. It will not be a sign of weakness. It is a small price to pay for the taking of life. I hate puking! Perhaps I will, fates be willing, feel revulsion acutely, yet not wretch and gag when running a sword into a man. I think I shall prefer to use orbs, and magical weapons, and avoid the close contact of hand-to-hand combat. I’m smaller than most warriors. My greatest strength will be agility and magic. Is it cowardly to think this way? Is it wrong to want to kill without seeing into dying eyes? Must one pay some painful price for killing? Far better to pay a price than to risk enjoying the kill and becoming more evil than those whose lives we justify taking. We would be more evil for having known good, and yet allow temptation to lead us to use evil against evil. Akira continued wrestling with her thoughts.
The young would-be dragon warrior sighed deeply. She knew sleep would not come easy. She walked to the water’s edge. A swim, perhaps, will wash away my troubling thoughts. She thought about Dimitri, as she waded out waist deep into the cool water. Dimitri, the first man who treated her as an equal, the first man who encouraged her to become a warrior, the first man who earned her respect. She thought about how his mouth felt against her lips. He was the
first man to make her reconsider her vow to never marry.
Akira stirred the water, making ripples around her. It had been a relief to learn from the enchantress that she had not bewitched Dimitri. She smiled sadly, for it seemed not to matter if she bewitched him or not, for feelings of shared affection would have to remain as affection, for the lives of warriors were precarious enough, and if she believed Dimitri regarding love and warriors, love made warriors vulnerable, and she had no reason not to believe him, for Dimitri was a mighty warrior. He had survived many battles. Thinking of Dimitri gave her a warm wistful feeling. Akira channeled the feeling, drew on her magic. Much to her delight, a blue glow swept down her arms flowing into the waters as she swirled her fingers. Small silver fish, attracted to the light, darted between her legs, and tickled her feet. Akira laughed. Magic is fun. How can anyone call this evil? She cupped her hands, filling them with water, and raising her arms, tried to concentrate on the blue glow infusing the trickles of water escaping her fingers. It worked and it delighted her to see streams of blue light splashing back into the water swirling around her waist.
A splash in the distance alerted Akira she was not alone. A shiver of fear ran down her spine. She conquered the fear quickly. Her eyes searched the water’s surface looking for the source of the splash. Suddenly in the near distance a beautiful young maiden surfaced and giggled. Akira smiled at the young woman. “Hello. Who are you?”
The young woman appeared shy. She didn’t answer. She didn’t swim any closer, but she imitated Akira trickling blue glowing water.
Akira smiled. “Do you like the blue lights?” Akira scooped more water and repeated her illuminated play with the water.”
The water maiden laughed and clapped her hands gleefully. She broke her shy silence. “I, want to share you with my sea sisters! Do you want to play with us?” The bare-breasted young woman rolled in the water, and much to Akira’s surprise the lower half of the young woman’s body was like a fish.”
“You are a mermaid!” said Akira in a surprised tone of voice. Akira was suddenly wary.
The beautiful creature nodded yes. “Come play, come swim with us in the deep. Make blue water lights for my sisters to see.”
Akira looked apologetic. “I’m sorry, but I must leave.”
The mermaid looked annoyed.
Unfamiliar with mermaids, Akira was unsure of herself. Is she harmless? Is this a ruse to lure me into deep water and drown me?
“Come swim with me, I can show you pearls and treasure.” The mermaid pouted prettily in the moonlight.
“Until we are introduced to each other by mutual friends, I must regretfully decline your generous invitation.” Akira started back up towards the shoreline. Something seemed not right.
Silkily, the mermaid replied. “Perhaps another time, after introductions, but then you’ll miss something special … something wonderful.” The mermaid tilted her head appealingly.
“I regret I must miss something wonderful. Goodnight … what was your name?” Akira was fishing for a name. She backed away, trying to look nonchalant, never taking her eyes off the mermaid
“My name is Temptation. Farewell.” The mermaid made a large splash with her golden scaled tail and disappeared quickly leaving only a small telltale ripple that soon smoothed itself out.
Akira was relieved to be back onto the shoreline, within reach of her weapons. She looked at the moonlit waters. No longer did the sight of the sea feel calming. Now the moonlight seemed menacing on the waters. Suddenly she felt tremendously foolish, for her first thought to protect herself when suspicious of the mermaid, was get to her old weapons laying on the beach, and not to use the weapons of a mage with the ability to sink a mermaid like an anchor. Akira realized she needed more training. Brain training. I must think and react like a mage.
She quickly picked up her sword, wiped the sand from her bare feet on the cool grass at the bottom of the cliff, pulled her leather boots on, and ran up the worn-edged rocky steps leading back to the old crumbling castle on the cliff. An inner voice told her she had narrowly escaped something. But the something was unexplainable. The friendly mermaid was too friendly, too inviting. Akira toyed with two, one-word questions. Friend? Foe? Friend? Foe? She hoped Mage Morgan wasn’t asleep already. There was much to discuss. With a name like Temptation, the mermaid wasn’t to be trusted. Akira trusted her instincts, but she knew those instincts needed to be sharper, faster, those of a quick-thinking mage.
Akira hurriedly dressed in dry leggings, pulled on a clean blouson, fastened her tunic against the cooling night air. She loosely braided her wet hair, then started her search of the castle with a purposeful stride to find her father. She found him in an alcove, feeding a noble and wise-looking owl.
“Oh, there you are father. What a beautiful owl!” Akira’s eyes looked puzzled. Her memory tingled. “Why do I feel like I’ve seen this owl before?”
Mage Morgan replied. “Because you have seen Hooter before. He followed you and kept track of you when you ran from Baron Rolfe’s heavy thumb. Hooter becomes my eyes when needed. Hooter afforded you a small measure of protection on your dangerous journey.”
Akira peered into the golden eyes of the owl as she mulled over Mage Morgan’s revelation. “Hooter, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank you personally for your assistance.” The owl blinked and looked from Mage Morgan and back to Akira.
“Hooter, says it was a pleasure,” said the mage. “He thinks you were quite brave.”
“Well I wasn’t so brave just a few minutes ago.” Akira put her arm out. The owl perched on her arm.
“Pray tell what happened?” Mage Morgan’s eyes scrutinized his daughter’s expression.
“I was playing in the water.” Akira looked embarrassed, admitting a childish moment. “Playing with magic. I don’t know if it was the blue light I created that attracted the mermaid, or if she just came upon me, or if she was waiting for me with a purpose.”
Mage Morgan raised his bushy eyebrows.
Akira frowned. “She kept inviting me to come and play, to entertain her sisters. She was beguiling. I sensed a subtle frustration in her voice for failing to get me come out deeper in the water. Was I right to be wary of her?”
“Wary? Yes. This is somewhat disturbing. I hope Talana isn’t using the Mer, the people of the sea, to pull you into her service. She gave up too easily trying to convince you to be a siren. Perhaps she regrets helping me influence the path we wanted your abilities to flow.”
“The mermaid’s name was Temptation,” said Akira. “I feared a trap, and told her we needed to be introduced to each other by mutual friends. I don’t know if she sensed that she made me nervous, or if she believed that proper introductions were necessary. If she was innocently friendly I didn’t want to offend her.”
Mage Morgan let out a deep breath. “There is nothing innocent about the mermaid named Temptation. Her name embodies her bewitching particularly dangerous talent. She once gave her allegiance to Talana.”
“Once?” said Akira.
“They had a falling out many seasons ago,” Mage Morgan said dryly, “over a handsome man. I know not of where her allegiance falls or if she is a free agent. We must determine if she has associations with the Dark One. Did she ask your name?”
“No.”
“Good. Perhaps, if we are favored by the fates, she approached you for her own designs, and doesn’t troll the shoreline and seas, spying for, and reporting to the Dark One.”
“Why do mermaids lure sailors to their deaths? Is the sea not large enough that the beautiful creatures can live peaceably away from human contact if they despise us?”
“Vengeance pure and simple. Long, long ago fishermen found a mermaid entangled in their nets. She had been trying to free her dolphin friends from the fishermen’s net. The foolish men called her an abomination, taunted her, tore her flesh with gaffs, before throwing her lifeless tortured body back into the sea. A dolphin escaped the nets while the men watched the body
of the mermaid sink into the depths of the sea. When the sea people learned from the dolphin, the fate of the much-loved mermaid princess, the sea itself was said to have cried with the sea people. From that day forward sailors, fishermen, those who traverse the great seas, have been lured to their deaths by mermaids, mermaids under the watchful eyes of mermen.”
“So, for the sins of a few evil men, innocents are lured to their deaths.” Akira’s eyes revealed a great sorrow.”
“And that is how wars are started between our different kinds. Intolerance and fear of something, and anything different.” Mage Morgan became thoughtfully silent as did Akira.
Akira broke the silence. “Our differences, between the species, make our world interesting and beautiful. When I believed mermaids, ogres, and monsters and all the other creatures of fables to be the imaginative fabric of stories made to entertain children, and frighten children, my world was as if it was black-and-white, with glimpses of color. Now, my world is in vivid color. Imagine a garden with only one flower, one color. Boring. A garden with a variety of flowers, all different, and in every conceivable color, size, and shape, is rich, scintillating, and, exciting. Why is it that our different beings, human and nonhuman, mortal and immortal, can’t see the value and beauty of the differences some mysterious great creator cultivated in his great earth garden?”
Mage Morgan studied his daughter thoughtfully. Her simple analogies spoke, once again, of a wisdom beyond her years. That she said, for the sins of a few men, lifted his sadness. His daughter’s words, once painted all men with the same brush, as being oppressive to their female counterparts. Now, her words gave evidence of a shift in her beliefs, a lessening of prejudices against the males of the human species. The past winter, spent on the mountain where Akira had access to great minds, and freethinking was well spent. Not only had she learned combat skills, she had learned more about the world she didn’t realize existed. His daughter learned all men were not equally guilty of treating women and girls as less valuable than themselves. She had learned a great deal from the warrior Dimitri and his men, that she could be judged on her merits as a warrior not as a woman, but with a great war looming ahead, she needed more knowledge. For with vast knowledge he knew came great power.
Akira Rides Page 7